


careful now (with my head)

by cosmicxya



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Klance Secret Santa 2016, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, very vaguely implied hunk/shay and allura/shiro, what is this?? ~6k words of pure sap that's what
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 18:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9002155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicxya/pseuds/cosmicxya
Summary: With growing horror, Lance comes to the realization that Keith has somehow managed to ruin every single pretty human being for him. And maybe a few aliens too.(Who is he kidding, it’s all the aliens.)---or: lance loses his dog and his sanity kind of crumbles from there.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so lance's dog is a blue chihuahua!! very rare but very cute.
> 
> can you feel my regret
> 
> title taken from [Tightrope](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPedH9B8AAE) by Walk the Moon

It starts when Lance kind of, _sort of_ loses his dog.

“What do you mean you _lost_ her?”

“Hunk!” Lance whines. “This is not the time. Nina is in danger. She must be alone, terrified, hungry, and – oh god, what if she’s injured? Or – or worse. She could be dead, holy shit, what if someone ran their car over her? I should have locked the windows and she’s not even wearing her collar, shit  – “

“ _Dude_ ,” Hunk cuts in, “breathe.”

“My baby is _gone_ , stop telling me to breathe!” And okay, Lance is probably being a tad too dramatic. He’s used to Nina going off to her own places. She’s an adventurous dog.  But she always comes back before midnight and right now it’s three in the fucking morning and Lance hasn’t seen her since he left for class at eight. He had looked for her everywhere – from every hidey hole in his apartment to that one spot in the nearby park Nina adored, but the dog was nowhere to be seen.

So, yeah, he’s allowed to be more than slightly distraught because she has apparently fucking vanished off the face of the earth.

“Lance, buddy, Nina loves you and she’s way cleverer than you give her credit for.” Hunk breaks off with a yawn. “If she doesn’t come back until tomorrow   Pidge and I’ll help you put up signs. Try to get some sleep.”  Another yawn and Lance swears he can hear his jaw pop.

And god, suddenly Lance feels awful for calling up his best friend when he knows that the poor guy has a class in less than three hours.

“Yeah, “he says, guilt creating a cesspool of misery in his stomach, “sorry for waking you up. Thanks, Hunk.”

“It’s fine,” Hunk hums.“Anything for you, man. Now get back home and sleep. Nina is going to be fine. I’ll get back to you after class.”

Lance grunts affirmatively and after a brief goodbye, hangs up. He leans against the door to his apartment building and groans. He debates going back to his apartment before realizing that it’s not like he’s going to get any sleep so he might as well keep looking, no matter what Hunk says. He sighs and turns back to the road. Maybe Hunk was right, and she would come back by the morning.

☆

Nina doesn’t come back.

“She’s going to be fine, Lance,” Pidge says from where she is hunched over her laptop, and Lance bets that she’s probably hacking into the Google maps server and doing her voodoo stuff to make it into her Dog Locator Supremo or something. They have just come back from putting up some posters that Hunk and Pidge had procured seemingly out of nowhere when they arrived at Lance’s apartment and she is curled up in a nest of blankets on the floor by the couch Lance is sitting on. Hunk is puttering about kitchen, putting the leftovers he brought over in Lance’s refrigerator.

“If either of you says that to me one more time I’ll shove this pizza crust up their – “

“ _Lance_ ,” Hunk intones as he enters the living room. He takes a seat beside him.

Lance tears into his crust and huffs. He doesn’t even _like_ pizza crusts.”Sorry,” he mutters. Hunk sighs and wrests the pizza crust from his hands and pops it in his mouth.

“Look,” he starts, “I’m not going to say any of that ‘ _she’s just a dog get over it’_ stuff, but you need to stop beating yourself over this, man. I know you love her a lot, but . . . “

Lance narrows his eyes. “But _what_?”

Hunk shrugs helplessly. “Things happen. Though I’m not saying anything is happening right now, at this very instant,” he adds in quickly when he sees Lance’s face fall at an alarming rate.

 “Yeah,” Lance replies unenthusiastically. There is a period of silence as Pidge continues to type away frantically on her laptop and Hunk moves over to her makeshift nest to look at what she’s doing and occasionally help her out. 

 “You know what,” Lance says finally, sick of doing nothing, “I think I’m gonna take a walk.” He stands up from where he is sprawled beside him and stretches.

Pidge frowns at him and pushes back the glasses sliding off her nose. “Lance, it’s freezing outside. I’m pretty sure I can’t still feel my toes and it’s been an hour since we came back.”

“Okay, _smartass_ , but I can walk around the building.” Lance says, nudging her with his foot on his way to the door.

“At least I have a _smart_ ass!” he hears Pidge yell as the door falls shut, “Or even an ass at all!”

Okay that was _rude_ , and entirely uncalled for. Lance glares at his closed door for a moment before poking his tongue out at it childishly.

“I totally have an ass,” he mutters as he turns away from the door. “I have the _best_ ass.”

 “Um,” a voice interrupts his quiet fuming. His head shoots up to the apartment door beside his to see a pair of wide eyes staring at him and his face floods with warmth. He hopes that the guy didn’t hear him because god, do those eyes belong to the most magnificent human Lance has ever had the chance to lay his eyes on. The guy looks Asian, with almond shaped eyes which look almost purple in the shitty fluorescent lighting of the lobby. The pale skin of his cheeks and the tips of his ears poking out of his soft black hair are tinged with red, probably from the cold. He’s wearing a thick maroon woolen coat and a rather horrific neon green muffler is wrapped around his neck. He has a large carry bag in one hand proclaiming ‘”THIS IS A BAG”. Lance silently sends up a prayer, thanking every deity above for giving him the opportunity to bestow his eyes upon this gorgeous, gorgeous man.

_Lance, be cool, don’t fuck this up. You’re a master of this whole shtick._

“You have a mullet,” is the first thing that comes out of his goddamn mouth because apparently the universe is conspiring against him. First, his dog, then _this_.

If anything, the redness in the guy’s face intensifies and Lance dies a little inside. “What the – I don’t – “ he touches his hair with his hand consciously, a hand covered with a fingerless glove which goes against everything Lance likes about gloves. “I don’t have a _mullet_.”

Lance snaps out of his daze and puts on his best smirk. “You, my dude, are living in denial.” And as the guy splutters and as Lance can’t keep his mouth shut, he continues, “so you come here often?”

He immediately visualizes himself slapping himself upside down the head.

The guy looks at him warily. “Um. I live here, so a lot, I guess?”

Lance coughs awkwardly. “No, I mean, are you new here?”

The guys goes to scratch the back of his neck but the muffler gets in the way so he drops his hand. Lance tries not to find that cute, because _it isn’t._

“Yeah,” he says. “Moved in about a week ago.”

“Oh,” Lance says. He debates on what to say next before lifting his hand, “Welll, I’m Lance, new neighbor.”

The guy cautiously slips his hand into his and Lance can’t help but notice how warm his fingers are even with those stupid gloves. “Keith,” he says.

Lance grins (or at least he _hopes_ it’s a grin and not a painful grimace). “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah.”

They just kind of stand their awkwardly for a moment before the guy – _Keith_ – gives a cough and points at his door. “So.I’ll be going then. See you around, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Lance says and the guy rushes into the apartment like he can’t go fast enough. As soon as he is out of sight, Lance slumps against his door and covers his face with his hands.

“Fuck,” he mumbles. That went _horribly_ , kind of like the direction in which everything in Lance’s life is going lately.

“LANCE! We can hear you sulking out there. Get _inside_ so that you can actually help us find Nina.”

Lance groans.

☆

Nina has been lost for two days and Lance comes to the decision that he’s going to become one with the dinghy couch of the fast food place he’s at. He tells this to Hunk who’s nursing a double cheeseburger.

“Okay,” Hunk says. “You know, I miss her too.”

“Don’t remind me,” Lance whines. “I want her back. I’ll never yell at her for peeing on the kitchen table again. And I’ll give her a million dog treats everyday and I’ll keep her safe and always lock the window and keep her safe and – “

Hunk pats his back comfortingly. “Buddy, you’re crying. Come here.” He sets his burger aside and opens his arms.

“I’m not crying,” Lance sniffles and falls into Hunk’s arms. “I’m _not_.”   

“Yeah, yeah,” Hunk hums. They get some weird looks from people but Lance can’t bring himself to care.

After Lance runs out of tears, he doesn’t feel any better. “You should go home and rest up,” Hunk says. “Watch something. Get your mind off things.”

Lance pokes at a fry. “I haven’t told _mama_ yet,” he says miserably. “She loves Nina, this will destroy her.”

Hunk sighs. “Lance. I think she’ll be more worried about how you’ve been handling this.”

“Yeah,” Lance mutters and swipes a napkin to wipe his greasy fingers. “I think I’ll go home like you said.”

Hunk clasps his shoulder. “Do you need me to come with you?” he asks, his voice unbearably kind.

Lance tries for a smile. “Nah. Thanks, bromeo.”

Hunk grins and punches his shoulder gently. “Anything for you, broseidon.”

By the time Lance reaches his apartment building, the sense of comfort that came with talking to Hunk has already worn off and he feels like crawling into bed and sleeping for the rest of his pitiful Nina-less life.

He is just unlocking his door, readying his when he hears barking. He freezes because it’s definitely not just any barking, but the unmistakable yips of _his_ Nina who had never figured out the entire loud actual barking thing and only talked into the cutest of yaps. And the said yaps were coming from right next door.

He hovers by the door next to his, the door that belongs to the Mullet guy, screws his eyes shut and presses his ear against it. There’s another yap. Yeah, that was _definitely_ Nina. He bangs on the door before he can second-guess it.

The barking increases and there is a sound of paws scraping against the door. Lance hears a muffled laugh, which he would find adorable if it weren’t for the fact that he was absolutely livid. That was his dog, _damnit._

The door opens and Lance is immediately greeted with excited barking and a face full of fur. Nina is small so it’s more of the emotion and not the momentum that drops him to his ass. He buries his head in her fur as she licks every part of him that she can reach.

“Um, hi?”

Lance looks up and glares the best he can with a Chihuahua attempting to climb on his head. “You!” he says.

“Me?” Keith says, confused. He’s got his hair pulled back in a short ponytail and the shorter hair are pushed back with a red hairband. He’s wearing a horrible oversized muddy coloured sweater and pyjama bottoms but _still_ manages to look cute which further fuels Lance’s growing irritation as the thrill of seeing Nina again begins to wear off.

“ _You_ ,” Lance repeats insistently, and struggles to his feet, hugging Nina close to his chest and gently pushing her head off his face.

Keith’s eye twitches. “Who are you.” _What the fuck._

“You stole my dog!” Lance squawks indignantly. “And how can you not remember me? We met two day ago! I’m _Lance_? Your neighbor?”

Keith blinks. “She’s your dog?” he says.

“Hell yeah, she’s my dog!” Lance pulls Nina closer to him and she wriggles uncomfortably and yips.

“Huh,” Keith says, looking at her intensely and then back at Lance.”She doesn’t wear a collar,” he states.

“Um, because it _itches_? I don’t want Nina to get rashes. She only wears it when I take her out for walks.”

“Her name’s Nina?” And _oh god_ , Keith has got this little smile on his face and Lance is not prepared for this.

“Yeah,” Lance replies, his tone petulant.

“Oh,” Keith murmurs. “I’ve just been calling her Dog.”

“What.”

Keith flushes. “I’m not good with names.”

Lance snorts. “I noticed.”

“What?”

“What _what_?”

Keith looks a little miffed and opens his mouth to say something before snapping it shut. “Uh,” he starts. “Do you want to come in?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Lance says and walks in, putting Nina on the floor who rushes back into the apartment. So he might be being a _little_ too rude but he’s confused as hell and just needs answers.

“So,” he begins when they are seated on Keith’s couch with Nina curled up between them, “why exactly did you steal my dog?”

“I didn’t _steal_ her,” Keith says, scowling, picking at the fraying sleeves of his sweater. “I found her outside the building and thought that she was a stray.”

“How is a Chihuahua supposed to be a stray?”

“She was not wearing a collar!” And no, Lance didn’t find that crack in his voice cute. _No_ , sir-ee.

“Blah. Excuses.”

“So,” Keith says a little too forcefully, “I got her some cookies. She followed me home.”

“She _followed_ you?” Lance says disbelievingly.

“She likes me. I think.”

“You think,” Lance repeats. He pulls Nina into his lap and scowls at her. “You like _him_?” Nina licks his nose in response.

“What,” Keith says, looking at him suspiciously “is that tone supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Lance says airily, letting go of Nina who hops over to Keith whose hand automatically goes to scratch that sweet spot below her neck. “What the fuck,” he says.

Keith looks up at him, looking decidedly annoyed. “Now what?”

“She _likes_ you.”

“I think we’ve established that.”

“No, she likes you,” Lance says, kind of horrified. “It took her days to get used to my best friend who is, like, the most likable guy _ever_. And she’s been with you for what, two days?”

“Huh,” Keith says. He smiles the same small smile that makes Lance want to hurl himself off a cliff. People who don’t smile much, he thinks privately, shouldn’t be allowed to smile because when they do it does things to his heart.

(Or maybe it’s just Keith.)

(It’s definitely just Keith.)

“I like her too,” Keith continues, unaware of the wave of denial and sheer terror that crashes over Lance. He looks at Nina with a soft look in his eyes and something sad.

“You can always come over,” Lance blurts out before he can process his words because he has no fucking filter.

Keith looks up, confusion lighting his face.

“To meet Nina, of course,” Lance says quickly, aware that he’s going to start rambling but unable to stop himself. “She definitely likes you and you definitely like her so you could always pop in. Like, I live right next door so that shouldn’t be a problem.” He clears his throat. Keith is looking at him with wide eyes. “I mean, this is only if you want to. I mean, if you don’t then that’s completely fine, I totally understand – “

 “No,” Keith cuts in. “I mean, yeah, I’d like that. I’d really like that.” His cheeks are almost as flushed as Lance’s and he is biting his lower to keep from smiling. “Thank you.”

Lance feels a grin stretch across his face.

“Cool,” he says.

“Cool,” Keith repeats.

Lance is _so fucked._

☆

Keith effortlessly fits into Lance’s life in the span of a month and soon he can’t even imagine a time without grumpy Mullet-headed softies to rile up. Keith is a reserved guy so it _does_ take him some time to completely chip away the walls Keith had erected around himself but he _manages_ since he’s Lance.  He learns that the guy is majoring in astrophysics like Lance but at the local community college because he got kicked out from the college that Lance studies at for reasons he won’t tell.

Another thing Lance learns is that Keith likes a few things, so when he likes something, he _REALLY_ likes it. And one of the things he likes the most are conspiracy theories judging by the manic gleam he gets in his eyes whenever he launches into a speech on anything related to the Roswell incident or the recent sightings of Big Foot, which Lance (for some reason) struggles and fails not find adorable. He has a sweet tooth and that is why he makes sure to only wear sweaters with built in pockets so that he can always have something sweet at hand. He never understands any of the pop culture references Lance makes since apparently, he’s an actual dinosaur _._ He has the social grace of a Neanderthal. He flushes when he gets frustrated, his eyes crinkle at the ends when he flashes Lance a rare smile, he loves Nina like she’s his own dog and –

 – and Lance is just too _gone_ for him.

He has come to the conclusion that Keith is bad for his fraying sanity as he is _too endearing._ Honestly, the guy should come with a sign saying HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH (LOOKING AT YOU, LANCE).

And it doesn’t help that they spend a lot more time together than Lance had anticipated. Keith doesn’t have many friends and the adoptive brother he talks about doesn’t count so Lance kind of takes the role of the Best Friend Ever. Hunk and Pidge do hang out with them sometimes (and those are the times when Lance has to suffer through endless ribbing and thinly veiled innuendoes coupled with eyebrow waggling) but it’s mostly just the two of them sprawled out at either of their apartments with textbooks and Nina spread between them.

“Y’know,” Lance says one day, when they’re having one of their study sessions at his apartment. Or at least, it is supposed to be a study session but Keith has abandoned his Calculus textbook in favour of lying on the blanket spread out on the floor holding a bone plushy that Nina is trying to wrestle away from him and Lance is sprawled on the couch with his laptop open in front of him where he’s _supposed_ to be completing an assignment. “I would’ve never pegged you for a dog person.”

Keith looks up at him. “Why?” he asks, his brows furrowing.

“Uh, because you’re like a cat? You’re all prickly and aloof-ish but all gooey inside.”

Keith’s frown deepens and Lance can almost see his hackles rise up. “What? No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“ _No_.”

“ _Yes_.”

“No _I’m no_ – _fucking_ – damn it, Nina!” Keith snatches his hand away from the plushy as Nina’s mouth snaps close over it, coming dangerously close to biting him. Nina sits back on her haunches and the plushy makes a squeaking sound.

“Ha!” Lance exclaims smugly, leaning down to pet Nina approvingly. “I win. You _are_ a cat.”

“This isn’t a competition,” Keith mutters.

“ _Life_ is a competition, young man.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“ _You_ don’t make any sense.”

Keith glares at him but Lance can see the beginnings of a smile that the other boy is desperately trying to clamp down. “You’re insufferable,” he mutters around a small grin and Lance feels something flutter in his stomach.

“You love it,” he says in a sing-song voice.

“Yeah, sure,” Keith says but he’s smiling and Lance takes to smiling dopily back at him. They stare at each for a few more beats than necessary before simultaneously looking away.  Lance feels the back of his neck burn.

“Hey,” he finds himself saying, “you know, I’m glad Nina found you.” He determinedly stares at a spot on the blanket and not anywhere in the vicinity of Keith’s face.

“Oh.” There is something Keith’s voice that makes him drag his gaze back to him. The other boy’s eyes are wide. “I,” his voice cracks slightly. “Me too.” He smiles.

 And Lance _beams_. He thinks that he could get used to this.

☆

He does get used to it. A little _too_ used to it. Dangerously used to it, which may be an exaggeration but this is Lance and he _never_ does things half-assed. So he’s not surprised that when he falls, he falls hard. His crush on Keith kind flowers into something more, not quite love but something that’s pretty damn close to it. It manifests to such an extent that Lance finds himself thinking about Keith while flirting with the customers at the coffee shop he works at, about how Keith’s blush was decidedly more attractive, how his tone of voice was huskier and softer, how his laugh was just _prettier_.

With growing horror, Lance comes to the realization that Keith has somehow managed to ruin _every single_ pretty human being for him. And maybe a few aliens too.

(Who is he kidding, it's _all_ the aliens.)

If anything, the time they spend together increase with the onslaught of the holiday season which means that Lance’s situation gets direr as each day passes by. 

“I am dying,” Lance confesses to his best friends when they are over at Hunk and his girlfriend’s apartment.  Pidge is sprawled out next to him on the couch with her head on his lap and her legs on Hunk’s. “This is it.”

Pidges scrunches her nose up and reaches up to pinch his nose. “Good riddance,” she says. Lance pulls at her hair gently and she sticks out her tongue at him.

“I’m sure you’re not dying,” Hunk says helpfully. “It’s just the love bug. I’ve heard it spreads, especially in the holiday season. You should do something about it.”

“I will _fight_ you guys, I swear.”

“You are a noodle,” Pidge says. “You aren’t fighting _anyone_.”

Lance pushes her off his lap in response.

☆

Lance decides to do something about this – _thing_ – he has for Keith. By spending more time with him.

(Honestly, Lance has no idea what he’s doing here.)

So he asks “What are you doing for Christmas?” to Keith on the eighth of December. Keith had decided to tag along with him to the nearby dog park ‘ _to make sure you don’t lose the poor dog again’_ (which Lance takes great offense in since he is perfectly capable of taking Nina out to the dog park _alone_ , thank you very much). He is bundled in an overlarge coat and his Horrific Green Muffler (‘ _It’s not_ that _bad.’ ‘Yeah, totally. That thing’s definitely worse than bad.’_ ) is wrapped around his neck. His nose is tinted pink from the cold and he’s looking infuriatingly cute as usual.

Keith glances at him. “Not much? Shiro can’t come this year since he has a thing with his girlfriend’s family, so guess I’ll just stay in and order pizza.”

Lance gapes at him. “Order pizza?”

Keith frowns. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“What _isn’t_ wrong with that?”

Keith just stares at him in confusion. Lance sighs and moves to stand in front of him, one eye still on where Nina is sniffing at a nearby tree. He puts both his hands on his shoulders and Keith stiffens slightly before relaxing (the relaxing part is new and Lance has never felt more accomplished). “Keith,” Lance sighs, “my main man, my buddy, my dude – “

“Please get on with this.”

Lance shakes him lightly. “Buddy, I’m going to give you your best Christmas experience _ever_.”

Keith blinks. “Aren’t you going back home for the holidays?”

Lance winces and shakes his head. “Not this time. I’m broke as fuck and Cuba isn’t just a car ride away, you know?” He doesn’t mention that this will be his first Christmas away from his family.

Keith looks at him sympathetically. “Oh.”

“Yeah, so, as I was saying,” Lance presses on, “get ready to get your socks knocked off.” He winks at Keith and feels unbridled glee rise in his chest as Keith flushes slightly.

“Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

“Shush, Keith,” Lance says and turns back to completely focusing attention on Nina who’s deigned the tree fit for peeing, “and let the master do his work.”

“Huh. I don’t see any masters around here.”

Lance elbows him. _Hard._

(Keith elbows him back. _Harder_.)

☆

They decide to set up a tree at Keith’s place so that they can avoid Nina (who would inevitably trash the decorations if they did it at Lance’s apartment) when Lance learns that the guy has never had a proper Christmas tree before.  

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you.”

“Lance,” Keith groans and rolls his eyes as he hangs a fake candy cane on the tree. “ _Shut up_.”

“Never had a _tree_ before, that’s it. You’re actually a caveman aren’t you? A mullet headed caveman. God, I can’t even – “

Kieth sighs in a Lord-Give-Me-Strength-Way, much like Hunk does, like, ninety percent of the time he’s around Lance. Lance wonders if he’s been taking lessons. “I am this close to shoving one of these fake pinecones up your ass.”

“Kinky.”

 Keith gives him a Look.

“Yep, shutting up now.” There is a short moment of silence as they continue to decorate the tree before:

“So, how _is_ that possible?”

 Keith groans again. “ _Lance_.”

“ _Keithy boy_.”

“Shiro and I never found it necessary. Isn’t Christmas supposed to be about family anyway?”

“Yeah,” Lance says, “and _presents_. And Christmas trees. And food.”

“Obviously.”

“ _Obviously_ ,” Lance replies. “God, you’re so lucky to have me in your life.”

“Very,” Keith says, and it’s probably only eighty percent sarcasm. Still, Lance throws a stray piece of tinsel at him when he’s distracted. Keith throws a star at him in retaliation. They end up chasing each other around the apartment throwing ornaments at each other and Lance has never felt so light and giggly and _happy_.

“I _feel_ more like a Christmas tree than the actual tree,” Keith says after they’ve exhausted themselves and are lying on the carpeted floor, looking at the ceiling. Lance huffs out a laugh.

“I think I’d make a dashing tree.”

Lance can practically hear Keith roll his eyes fondly. “Of course you’d think that.”

Lance turns his head to the side to look at him and his breath catches in his throat. Keith’s cheeks are flushed and his hair is sticking to his cheeks with sweat. There are bits of tinsel caught in his hair. He looks beautiful.

Before Lance can stop himself, he lifts his hand and gently picks out the tinsel from his hair. Keith freezes, turning to look at him with wide eyes. Lance immediately flushes.

“Um,” Lance starts a little breathlessly, “There were these things.” He brandishes the pieces of tinsel. “In your hair.”

“Oh.” Keith has reddened to such a degree that Lance is kind of concerned. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, anytime,” Lance squeaks back, like he’s not already mentally digging his own grave because honestly, he’s not sure he’s going to be able to speak in proper sentences _ever_ after this.

They just stare at each other, wide eyed, for a second before Lance tears his gaze away clears his throat. “So, you hungry? Because I’m starving.”

“Yeah,” Keith says, looking immensely relieved. “Yeah, sure. Pizza?”

“Pizza,” Lance agrees.

☆

On Christmas morning, Lance wakes up at six in the morning and flies to Keith apartment in sock clad feet with a yapping Nina in tow with a messily wrapped present at hand. He bangs on the door impatiently until it opens to reveal a disgruntled Keith with hair all over his face and dried drool on his chin, which should be disgusting but Lance still has to resist the urge to cry at how perfect he looks.

“What the fuck, Lan – ?” Keith manages to get out before Lance shoves the present in his chest. Nina rushes in from between Keith’s legs and Keith dumbly watches her go inside before looking back blankly at Lance.  

 “Merry Christmas, Keithy boy!”

Keith blinks as if trying to understand what was going on before his mouth drops in a ‘o’. And then he frowns as he takes in Lance’s pyjama apparel.

“Merry Christmas. You’re not wearing shoes,” he says intelligently. Lance has never had the opportunity to meet a sleep deprived Keith and he decides that he’s pretty damn adorable. (Obviously. Lance thinks that Keith could roll around in mud all day and he would still want to kiss him.)

“Acute observation, Sherlock. And it’s also kind of freezing. Mind if I come in?”

Keith blinks and moves to the side, still holding the presents to his chest. “Uh, sure.”

On reaching the living room, Lance sprawls on the beige couch and turns to Keith, holding out his hands, and makes insistent grabby motions. Keith stares at them confused for a moment before his eyes clear.  He puts his present on the coffee table and walks into his room with a _wait here._ He comes back with a package wrapped even more messily than Lance’s. He snickers and Keith gives him a look.

“Like yours is any better.”

“Um, it kind of is,” Lance says, now laughing in a hurt-your-belly kind of way. Keith just looks constipated.

“Shut up.”

Keith sits down beside him and Nina waddles off to the Christmas tree and sniffs at it curiously.

“Open yours first,” Lance says, practically vibrating with excitement. Keith looks at him, amused, before nodding. He picks up the larger present and unwraps it slowly. He pauses when he reaches a red muffler, and gives a short laugh. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Lance says, looking immensely pleased with himself. “And guess who made it?”

Keith’s eyes widen. “No way.”

Lance’s smug grin widens. “ _Way_ ,” he says. He grabs one end of the muffler and shows him a small L woven in red. “Now you have to throw away that neon green monstrosity and wear this one every day for the rest of your life.”

He looks up to see Keith staring at him wordlessly.

“Um, Keith? You okay there, buddy?”

Keith doesn’t respond, just remains kind of wide eyed and to his horror, a little teary. Lance immediately panics.

“Hey, is it bad? It’s okay if you don’t want it, you can return it or something. I mean, it’s not necessary for you to keep it, like, at all, keep on using your old muffler, I don’t – “

Keith _rams_ into him before he can finish and his arms reflexively come up to curve around his body. Keith buries his head in his shoulder whispering something over and over. _Thank you, thank, you, thank you._

Lance feels his face split into a grin and he rests his forehead on the junction of Keith’s shoulder and neck.  “Dude, s’just a muffler.”

Keith pulls away slightly but doesn’t remove his arms from around him and Lance is kind of glad because he’s feeling all kinds of warm both inside and outside.

“No,” Keith’s voice cracks a bit. “I just. You _made_ it. No one’s ever done something like this for me.”

“Oh, you’re killing me here, man.” Lance groans and pulls him back into a hug. “I’m never going to stop hugging you now.” Keith laughs wetly.

“I won’t mind that,” he says softly and Lance almost thinks that he imagined it except that Keith is pulling away and looking at him with his soft smile and flushed face and Lance can feel himself falling, falling, _falling_ –

“I really want to kiss you,” he blurts out before he loses the nerve. “Can I, uh, do that?”

Keith’s eyes widen and his flush darkens but he _smiles_.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Lance doesn’t know who moves in first but suddenly they’re kissing and okay, it’s not the best first kiss, they’re smiling a bit too much, there’s too much teeth, neither of them have really brushed so the morning breath is kind of off putting _but_ –

he won’t have it any other way.

He doesn’t know how they end up lying on the couch with Lance below Keith or how long they keep trading kisses, but they are pulled apart by insistent paws on their faces. Nina whines.

“Oh,” Lance says breathlessly. His lips feel bruised.

“Yeah,” Keith breathes. “That was . . . “

“Something,” Lance supplies. “That. Uh, happened.”

“Does this mean . . .?”

“That I like you? A lot? Yeah, definitely. You?”

Keith smiles bashfully. “I like you too. A lot.”

They stare at each other for a bit. Lance likes this. This position they’re in. This everything. He really, really does.

Nina whines again and they are broken from their reverie. Keith moves from hovering above him and now _Lance_ feels like whining, He sits up pulling Nina from the floor to his lap.

“You little attention seeking bastard.”

Keith laughs. “Reminds me of someone.” Lance glares at him but the effect is kind of ruined because he can’t stop smiling. Keith leans in to give him a peck on his lips. Lance’s cheeks are kind of beginning to hurt.

“You have to open my present,” Keith reminds him. Lance nods dumbly and Keith hands him the present. He tears off the wrappings and laughs.

“A collar. Really?”

“Completely rash proof,” Keith promises. “It’s soft and almost weightless. Nina won’t be able to even feel it there.”

Lance feels his grin widen. “Oh? And how do you know that? Did you try it o– “

“Complete that sentence and I will never kiss you again.”

“Okay, okay, geez. Can’t believe my boyfriend is such a doozy.”

Keith lets out a kind of strangled sound and flushes a deep, deep red. Lance feels warmth flood his chest.

“Oh,” he croons. “Oh my god. You’re so cute.”

“Shut up,” he grits out, but here is no heat in his voice.

“Yeah, sure, _boyfri –_ ”

As if sensing what was about to happen, Nina leaps of his lap just as Keith pounces on him, and captures his mouth in his and Lance thinks that no, he really doesn’t mind this new method of shutting up.

☆

It’s the best Christmas Lance has ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> i love these boys so much.
> 
> reblog/like this on [tumblr](http://cosmic-nya.tumblr.com/post/154899097973/careful-now-with-my-head) if you wish to!! thank you for reading it <3
> 
> merry christmas and happy hannukah!!


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